Pulitzer nominee to discuss evolution

Published: Saturday, October 30, 1999

KARA ALTENBAUMERAvalanche-Journal

Robert Pennock plans to dispel a few myths and possibly ruffle some feathers tonight when he addresses the issue of teaching evolution in a lecture titled ''Lions and tigers and APES, oh my!: Creationism versus evolution in Kansas.''

The free lecture, which is part of Texas Tech's Honors College's controversial topics series, will be from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in room 101 of the biology building.

Pennock, whose book on the evolution topic ''Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism'' is up for a Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Award, said during a preview lecture Friday afternoon that majority view doesn't matter when it comes to a question of fact.

''This is an empirical matter; it's not something you get to vote on,'' said Pennock, who is a philosophy of science professor at the College of New Jersey.

He uses the recent decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to remove evolution from school curriculum, which received attention worldwide, to address the larger issue of teaching the controversial subject in schools.

''People now realize this is so controversial,'' Pennock said of the Kansas decision. ''From (a scientist's) point of view, this is so well established they can't believe people don't believe it. When something like this Kansas case comes up, they see.''

Pennock said he tries in his lectures to dispel the myth that there are only two sides to the debate: evolution and creationism or Christian and non-Christian.

''People hear it from creationists that it's a false belief, that it's anti-Christian and that only atheists believe in evolution,'' he said. ''That's what I try to do is disabuse people of that theory. I try to point out that people need to not accept the polarizing view of creationists.''

In fact, he said, several Christian denominations are fine with the theory and some have published statements to that effect. Even Pope John Paul II has declared that evolution does not conflict with Christian doctrine, Pennock said.

''I want to let people know of the many intermediate points of view,'' Pennock said. ''There are more than two extremes. I want to point out that there are many Christians who have no conflict. I also want people to know that there are several segments of creationism.''

An important distinction within creationism is between those who believe the earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old and those who believe the earth is ancient.

''You cannot even say wouldn't it be fair to teach both creationism and evolution,'' he said. ''There are not two sides. There are a dozen or more sides.''

There will be a book signing after Pennock's lecture.

Kara Altenbaumer can be contacted at 766-8742 or kaltenbaumer@lubbockonline.com